Food & Beverage

Why buying cars, cruising with pets are a QSR's best friends

Dig deep enough into QSR data and you can discover some pretty interesting and sometimes quirky things about people who patronize fast food establishments. That was definitely one overriding theme of the findings of data company, GroundTruth, when it took a look at Q1 QSR numbers.

A recently released report explains why it pays for QSRs to keep a few doggie treats at hand in the drive-thru. (iStock)

June 8, 2021 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

What does buying a car or cruising around in a car with the family pet have to do with the quick-service restaurant business? Plenty, according to some of the recent findings in data company GroundTruth's evaluation of offline behavior related to fast food patronage in the first quarter of this year.

To come to its findings, GroundTruth applies offline behavioral data filters and other industry sources to current consumer trends to get an idea of the impact they're having on a restaurant category's business outcomes, including things like visits and sales. The data used is sourced from the 30 billion annual global visits observed on the GroundTruth platform, the company told QSRweb.

GroundTruth's first-quarter "Lean Report" on the QSR industry draws its insights from the highs and lows of the past year as they relate to the most recent restaurant visitation trends, which include some interesting findings about what types of activities tend to drive diners to quick-service brands. And, according to first-quarter data analyzed by the company and shared with QSRweb, consumers who are currently in the market for a car were found to be more likely to dine-in at a QSR than other consumers.

The report also found that consumers who typically gravitate toward outdoor dining at or from fast food brands tend to be pet lovers, who are fond of taking the family canine (feline or other fellow member of the animal kingdom) to the QSR for a treat along with his or her "pet-parent."

The "Queen" of foot traffic

In the first quarter this year GroundTruth found that although restaurant foot-traffic was down in a year-over-year comparison, diners were definitely coming back, with QSR brands witnessing the quickest and biggest visit increases among all restaurant categories, the company said. A lot of that probably has to do with the surge in drive-thru traffic across the sector which grew from 19% in 2019 to 27% in 2020. Carry-out QSR business also fared well, accounting for 38% of traffic in 2020, up from 17% in 2019.

As far as dominant QSR brands, the top honors go to the "Queen," as in Dairy Queen. Despite the cooler first-quarter weather in many parts of the nation, Dairy Queen foot traffic was up 52% from February 2021 to March 2021 alone. Not far behind, according to the report was Sonic, which saw a 46% increase over that period, along with Chick-fil-A (32%), Taco Bell (31%) and Arby's (29%).

Take it outside

Finally, the trend of "streeteries," or outdoor dining areas for QSRs, are proving to register highly with fast food diners, 66% of whom reported feeling most comfortable dining outdoors at a restaurant location. GroundTruth said that pushes the pendulum markedly in favor of restaurants keeping (or maybe even adding) those temporary outdoor seating areas that so many established in the scarier days of the pandemic. In fact, 43% of people said they sat outside at a table on a sidewalk, parking lot or street in the last 12 months to enjoy their fast food fodder.

Finally, an overwhelming majority (72%) reported they would be comfortable dining out over the next six months. GroundTruth sees this as a good opportunity for QSRS to implement campaigns that reach customers "in the moment" and "on-the-go." It pinpointed the use of geo-contextual ads as an ideal marketing approach for QSRs since they can be particularly instrumental in extending a brand's reach.

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.